The present invention pertains to a system and resident software, which provide preselected content to a user at a retail outlet such as a fuel dispenser.
The Internet is the child of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPAnet), an idea of the Department of Defense to assist in shared research efforts and to enable dispersed communications even in the event of localized failures of nodes within the communications network such as might occur in a nuclear war. Since its creation, the Internet has evolved and been co-opted, first by educational institutions not involved with the original ARPA grants, and then by commercial entities, resulting in a product which only vaguely resembles the original ARPAnet.
One of the innovations which has fueled an explosion of the usage of the Internet has been the development and promotion of the World Wide Web. In contrast to prior user interfaces such as gopher and File Transfer Protocol, the World Wide Web, and its hypertext format, allows the retrieval and manipulation of diverse data sources including listening to audio files and viewing graphical images and video clips. Furthermore, the interface is comparatively user friendly, allowing access to different information sources with the click of a button. In addition to the Internet proper, there are also many proprietary information providers which act as gateways as well as providing their own content. These may be formal gateways such as AOL(copyright) or COMPUSERVE(copyright) wherein the user logs in and is not immediately viewing a World Web address, or they may be simple Internet Service Providers who also provide a web home page having its own content. Examples of this sort of Internet Service Provider include Microsoft Network Services(trademark) (MSN), BELLSOUTH(trademark), GTE(trademark) and the like.
The explosion of the Internet is, in effect, a self-perpetuating cycle. As more people use the Internet, and specifically the World Wide Web, more service providers create presences on the Internet, providing diverse services. As more service providers create presences on the Internet, more people are inclined to use the Internet because of the myriad information sources contained thereon. While some content providers are selling goods and services, others are providing information such as news reports, weather reports or the like. All of these content providers together lure many people to the Internet every day.
In addition to the numbers of users of the Internet and its gateways spiraling upward, the extend of their usage is also spiraling upward. Once a person realizes the simplicity and functionality of the Internet, there is a pronounced tendency to log in ever more frequently so as to not miss something, or simply to stay in touch. News is available through numerous news sources such as cnn.com or msn.com, both of which provide continually updated news on their respective web pages.
However, there are frequently times and places where people cannot access the Internet, or access is so time limited that even the simple point and click manipulations of the World Wide Web are too cumbersome to retrieve and view the desired content in the time available. One of the primary places where these constrains come into play is during retail transactions, especially at fuel dispensing environments, where there is frequently inefficiently used time during the fuel dispensing operation. This time could be spend viewing content, but there is presently little or no Internet or other information provider access for the user from the fuel dispenser. Two examples of efforts to provide such access to a fuel dispensing environment are seen in commonly owned U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 08/896,988, filed Jul. 18, 1997 and 09/024,742, filed Feb. 17, 1998, which are herein incorporated by reference.
Additionally, the length of time of an average fueling transaction is not conductive to switching between multiple web pages through a manual interface to find exactly the content desired. Thus, where access to the Internet is possible, the efficient delivery and viewing of the content thereof is difficult to manage.
The solution to the lack of Internet and preferred information access at retail establishments is to provide such access through a retail establishment terminal, preferably a fuel dispenser or customer focused point of sale (POS). Furthermore, the present invention addresses the need to economize the time during the retail transaction available by providing user selected content preferences, which control what content is displayed on the retail establishment terminal for viewing by the user. Not only are the content preferences designed to allow immediate access to preferred content providers, but also the preferences are designed to control viewing parameters, such as viewing time, of the content providers.
The user initially logs in to his account host, whether it be AOL(copyright), MSN(trademark), or similar remote information provider, from any terminal with such access and creates a set of content preferences. The content preferences indicate the source and location from which the content is to be retrieved. The preferences are saved in memory.
Retail establishments must have an Internet ready system, which is capable of connecting a POS terminal or device to the Internet. It is particularly desirable to make fuel dispensers directly or indirectly Internet capable. Subsequently, the user arrives at a retail establishment and uses a retail establishment terminal to access the account host a the Internet in general. The user then accesses the preferences, which dictate the content displayed on the retail establishment terminal. Preferably, access is automatically initiated at the beginning of a transaction upon identifying a user through a card, transponder or the like.
The present invention provides a system which allows the above described communication connections to be made while implementing software which allows the user not only to create the preferences, but also to retrieve and implement them such that the user only sees the desired content for the desired amount of time.
In the preferred embodiment, the user initially logs in to an account host associated with the Internet and sets preferences including from where content or information is retrieved. Included in the preferences are time limits and instructions to switch automatically between different content providers. Subsequently, the user logs on to the World Wide Web or a proprietary gateway through a retail point of sale interface. After successfully logging on, the user may view information from preselected content providers for preselected amounts of time without the need to change manually a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or use a mouse to click on a hypertext link. The need for manual prompting is eliminated by the preference program automatically switching between content providers as previously indicated by the user. In this manner, the user can have access to desired content in a retail environment. The user also has the freedom to dispense fuel or otherwise conduct a retail transaction, without the need to change manually content providers so as to view all the desired content within a short amount of time.
Subsequently, the user arrives at the retail establishment and alerts a terminal that the user desires to access content. The retail POS logs into the account host and access the preferences. The account host retrieves information from the preferred content providers and sends the information to the POS for display by the POS or for downloading to a user controlled computer.